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Grey asscher cut spinel

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whyyoukilleye

Rough_Rock
Joined
May 30, 2017
Messages
4
Hello,

Joining this community as i'm interested in getting a grey spinel as my engagement. Just wanted to check if the price is reasonable, too expensive or too good to be true.

i was quoted 2.2k USD for a 2.91ct spinel.

not sure if it's reasonable pricing?

would like to seek you guys opinion. thanks!

IMG_0311.JPG
 
Asschers are known for being a deep cut, so the ct wt isn't exactly indicative of the face-up size. Do you know/have the measurements in mm?
 
The only available similar gray asschers I can find are from Elle (The Gemstone Project) and hers are as follows:

1.23ct for $700 (5.89 x 5.89 x 4.58mm)
1.31ct for $750 (6.06 x 6.07 x 4.34mm)
 
Hello, unfortunately i do not have the measurement of the stone.

i did, however, see an asscher cut grey spinel from calgem for 800 plus USD, with a measurement of 8.55x8.55x5.90. A 3.31ct spinel. My bf was just wondering why the huge difference in term of the pricing.

Seeing how you guys seems particularly well versed in this topic, i thought to seek second opinion.
 
It looks precision cut which is usually a premium, but grey spinel material is not that valuable. I would say the lapidary is making a huge profit here.

I guess you have to decide whether you love it enough to pay so much. For me, grey spinel should be light enough in tone as to have nice sparkle, and some can be rather dark and charcoal like.
 
I think it's too expensive. I had a gorgeous 2cts grey asscher spinel, I don't remember how much I sold, but I think no more than $500 per stone if memory serves.

---Just remember, it's $700 per ring, solid 18k gold with diamond setting, together with the spinel.

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I don't believe I know what calgem is, but if you saw a 3.31ct for $800, and they had a good return policy, I'd probably snag it (at least to see it in person).

Overall, my gut tells me the one you posted is too expensive. But it all depends if you love it enough to pay the asking price.
 
I'd say it's too expensive. Grey spinels are not crazy popular (although I have seen quite a few gorgeous ones popping up around here lately) so they shouldn't be coming at a premium price.

Seems like most of the ones I've seen come in under $1,000.
 
Gray spinels are commanding quite the premium these days, given their rise in popularity and the lack of good quality material out there.
 
ElleW said:
Gray spinels are commanding quite the premium these days, given their rise in popularity and the lack of good quality material out there.
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Hiya, ElleW! :wavey:

Given your expertise in this department, lol, can you give us some idea of ballpark when you say premium?
 
It depends mostly on the size and color. If you can give me a size/color range, I can give you a better idea on pricing. To give you an idea, I've been searching for a larger gray spinel emerald for years, and once you hit 2cts, much less larger, the price goes up exponentially.

Recently I was given the opportunity to purchase a 3ct badly cut cushion to recut, and even that, with it's giant window was right at the $2k mark. But it had a lovely light gray color. Too bad it was basically as bad as sliding glass door.
 
The spinel ring with diamond is gorgeous.

This is the spinel i'm looking at on the website. the measurements are 8.55x8.55x5.90.

I have been talking to the owner online, and he has sent the stone to certify, so i'm unable to get more pictures.

Is 800usd a good price?

IMG_0373.jpg
 
As long as you're alright with the slight purple modifier, then I say go for it; yes, I'd say that's a good price. It looks well cut, clean and quite large!
 
I've just sold a couple of them one of them was huge and a pretty mid grey emerald cut the other was a smaller silver grey emerald cut and neither were over $750.00USD. For 2.2K you should be getting something twice that carat weight or more. So it probably depends where you shop. Grey spinels have gone up in price but it's a myth they are rare in fact it's a relatively common, inexpensive stone, for emeralds and asschers in this material you pay for decent cutting.
 
I hate when vendors here see a stone rising in popularity then run to up their profit margins by Xmillion percent (I'm being sarcastic incase that wasn't coming across).

Clearly as the links show you *can* get beautiful grey spinels (with perfect cut and colour and size) for a NORMAL non PS price.

If only PS vendors that do this could be more ethical. Not callimg you out specifically Ellie btw, I'm talking generally. No doubt anyone 'invested in the business' will disagree and that's ok.
 
theredspinel said:
I hate when vendors here see a stone rising in popularity then run to up their profit margins by Xmillion percent (I'm being sarcastic incase that wasn't coming across).

Clearly as the links show you *can* get beautiful grey spinels (with perfect cut and colour and size) for a NORMAL non PS price.

If only PS vendors that do this could be more ethical. Not callimg you out specifically Ellie btw, I'm talking generally. No doubt anyone 'invested in the business' will disagree and that's ok.
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What other stones has this happened to? I haven't been here long enough to know.
 
chatoyancy said:
What other stones has this happened to? I haven't been here long enough to know.
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Moonstone is the other gemstone that I've noticed that has gone up substantially in price and the quality really varies...
 
The windmills don't meet in the middle. Find one that does
 
aprilzephyr said:
Moonstone is the other gemstone that I've noticed that has gone up substantially in price and the quality really varies...
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I did not know that. I have noticed that moonstones are very popular. Have teal tourmalines always been so expensive above 2 carats? I will probably buy one of those at a gem show because that's a stone I want to see in person and I hate returning things. I have noticed a website seems to keep prices reasonable on those. I've also noticed that those get snapped up within hours of being posted on some websites.
 
chatoyancy said:
I did not know that. I have noticed that moonstones are very popular. Have teal tourmalines always been so expensive above 2 carats? I will probably buy one of those at a gem show because that's a stone I want to see in person and I hate returning things. I have noticed a website seems to keep prices reasonable on those. I've also noticed that those get snapped up within hours of being posted on some websites.
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I believe when copper bearing tourmalines were first discovered in Brazil, the market was quite enthusiastic and the high prices reflected that enthusiasm, but I have not been following paraiba's as closely as other PS'ers over the years. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I imagined the value would've been affected when they were also discovered in Africa, though my impression is that the desirable saturated blue-green color regardless of origin always commanded high prices.

Getting back to the original thread, I unfortunately have been seeing grey spinel being sold at much higher prices in Australia where I currently live (from the US originally). It has become really trendy amongst urban brides. I was quoted AUD 7,000 for a ~3ct grey spinel ring with diamond pears a couple of months ago.
 
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aprilzephyr said:
I believe when copper bearing tourmalines were first discovered in Brazil, the market was quite enthusiastic and the high prices reflected that enthusiasm, but I have not been following paraiba's as closely as other PS'ers over the years. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I imagined the value would've been affected when they were also discovered in Africa, though my impression is that the desirable saturated blue-green color regardless of origin always commanded high prices.

Getting back to the original thread, I unfortunately have been seeing grey spinel being sold at much higher prices in Australia where I currently live (from the US originally). It has become really trendy amongst urban brides. I was quoted AUD 7,000 for a ~3ct grey spinel ring with diamond pears a couple of months ago.
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I had no idea that grey spinel rings were so popular in Australia. Even though I am from the US, I bought my grey spinel from Seda gems in Australia. I mentioned that I liked grey spinel to a vendor at a gem show and she looked at me like I had three heads and said "to each his own" or something to that effect.
 
chatoyancy said:
I did not know that. I have noticed that moonstones are very popular. Have teal tourmalines always been so expensive above 2 carats? I will probably buy one of those at a gem show because that's a stone I want to see in person and I hate returning things. I have noticed a website seems to keep prices reasonable on those. I've also noticed that those get snapped up within hours of being posted on some websites.
Click to expand...

This really isn't on topic, but since you asked about tourmaline, I thought I'd reply. I've been collecting tourmaline for eons, and at one time tourmaline used to be considered a "cheap" stone. With the discovery of paraiba, the price for all tourmaline, pinks, reds, indicolites, went up dramatically. Sure, there are some bargains to be found on tourmaline, but it's definitely no longer considered a cheapie gemstone.
 
T L said:
This really isn't on topic, but since you asked about tourmaline, I thought I'd reply. I've been collecting tourmaline for eons, and at one time tourmaline used to be considered a "cheap" stone. With the discovery of paraiba, the price for all tourmaline, pinks, reds, indicolites, went up dramatically. Sure, there are some bargains to be found on tourmaline, but it's definitely no longer considered a cheapie gemstone.
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Thank you for responding TL. I knew that Paraiba has been expensive for a very long time, but did not know about the prices of the other varieties of tourmaline. I hope grey spinel prices don't follow that trend.
 
If you don't know where to shop most coloured stones and jewellery for that matter IS exceedingly expensive in Australia, a lot of stones and average to low quality settings are overpriced. And, yes I too am an Aussie. Black diamonds are overpriced here, Mahenge garnets have gone up and don't get me started on paraiba tourmaline bright green and blue tourmaline, and anything neon in spinel.
 
arkieb1 said:
If you don't know where to shop most coloured stones and jewellery for that matter IS exceedingly expensive in Australia, a lot of stones and average to low quality settings are overpriced. And, yes I too am an Aussie. Black diamonds are overpriced here, Mahenge garnets have gone up and don't get me started on paraiba tourmaline bright green and blue tourmaline, and anything neon in spinel.
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You would think opals and champagne diamonds would be less expensive over there because the mines are there as well. Many commodities are typically more expense in Australia because they're so isolated and have to import so much I heard. I'm not sure if that's true.
 
Hi all,

thanks for everyone's replies.

i have been in talk with hemi from calgem, and he has sent me the report of the spinel. what do you guys think about the stone?

i think in real life, the stone should look quite grey? i do have the opportunity to head down to hemi's office in bangkok this month, so i can decide if i want to buy on stone only when i see the stone.

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